SPECULATIVE SCIENCE

A googol is 1 followed by 100 zeros. Can there possibly be a googol of anything in the universe?

  • MATHEMATICS And The Imagination by Edward Kasner and James Newman (Bell & Sons, 1949) states that, although the total number of electrons in the universe (10 to the power of 79) is less than a googol, the total possible moves in a game of chess (10 to the power of 10 to the power of 50) is considerably larger than a googol. The book claims the name "googol" was invented by Kasner's nephew at the age of nine. He also named an even larger number, the googolplex which is one followed by a googol zeros. Bill Lythgoe, Wigan.
  • IF WE take a conservative estimate based on quasar observations that the universe has a diameter of 13 billion light years and then we apply one of the smallest units of measure, the Angstrom, we come up with the fascinating result that the volume of the observable universe equals 2.4 million google cubic Angstroms. Andy Parkin, Leeds.
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